Stray Cat Strut Chapter Sixty-Seven - Life Story

Chapter Sixty-Seven - Life Story

Most people look at the charts and graphs that mark the spread of an incursion and assu that the aliens do things by the numbers. First they send out the weaker Models to scout and gather, these are the Model Ones and Threes and Fours, with the occasional Six and Eight and Five thrown in. And only when the area is saturated with them, when theres no more resistance, do the bigger Models co out to play.

Thats a fat load of bullshit.

The bigger Models are either behemoths able to tango with a tank or are nightmares made flesh. So are no bigger than a human and others can comfortably bring down skyscrapers by punching them a few tis. They can show up at any ti.

The aliens dont have a doctrine. Dont expect them to play fair.

--Major Hunt, to Prisoner Platoon 5874, 2054

***

I dont know why, between myself and Gomorrah, I was elected default leader of our group of two.

She had more experience with the Samurai thing than I did, not to ntion she was a nun, which ant a sort of ntal image of competency of a sort. I was an orphan with a limp and a bit of an attitude problem.

Gomorrah still deferred to .

We made our way into a building with a Casper Blackman Associates LLC sign above a rusty door. Dumbass was able to unlock it while Dumbass Two and Three kept an eye on the area around us.

I didnt like using my new Samurai buddy as a crutch, but until my leg finished knitting itself together I was kinda stuck.

Where to from here? Gomorrah asked as she looked around the lobby. It was the kind of place that was pretty standard for so front business. Lots of generic posters, a few plastic seats to one side next to a vending machine that looked near-empty.

There were offices at the back that looked mostly empty, and the reception desk had a defaced older-model android sitting behind it.

I doubt you brought us here on purpose, she said.

Nah, I said with a shake of my head. Just wanted a spot out of the rain. Our goal is... sowhere that way. I gestured across the offices, pointing more or less towards where we were heading. I dont know what these guys do here, but they had a door.

Gomorrah tilted her head to the side just a bit. Plushies.

What?

Plushies. Theyre a LLC that does the paperwork for a factory in New Hong Kong that makes knock-off plushie Samurai.

Huh, I said. Okay. Thats nice. Lets find an elevator up a few floors. There should be so bridges across the street. We can get to the hospital from above ground level.

Fewer aliens that way, she said.

You say that like its a bad thing, I said.

She shrugged her shoulders. Thats fair. Ive made a good deal of points. Ill try not to be greedy.

I started forwards and she followed along, a good thing because I didnt want to faceplant any more than I needed to. The muscles in my thigh were getting better too. I made a show of looking for the elevator while thinking about what she said.

The way she worded that suggested that there wouldnt be any more points to be made in a bit. Would soone stop the Incursion?

Of course they would. We were Tier Ones, barely even worthy of the title Samurai, but people like Deus Ex? A few dozen like her could probably clear half the city. Soone stronger and older would probably just glass the rotten parts of the city.

Think there will be any work for us tomorrow? I asked.

Gomorrah nodded. This areas under the Familys purview. They usually leave the gutter clearing to local low-tier Samurai. Thats us.

Gutter clearing? I asked.

She looked at , then back ahead. Wed found the elevator, and it was still working. The sewers and subways and the rest of the undercity. It tends to get sward pretty bad. It can take months to clear it all out. Not a lot of points to be made, but so are better than none.

Id rather not go sewer diving, I said.

Then enter your na into the next lottery.

I nodded while having no idea what she was talking about. Myalis, which floor are we going to? I asked.

Not even going to look at a map to figure it out yourself? How lazy. Floor Sixteen.

Youre a darling, I deadpanned as I shoved my thumb onto the right button.

You talk to your AI out loud? Gomorrah asked. There are upgrades that allow you to subvocalize.

I shrugged. I like snarking back.

How very surprising, she said.

I pointed at her. Exactly like that, yeah.

She snorted.

So, are you really a nun, or is it so sort of cosplay? I asked. Because if it is, I do approve. The whole nun kink isnt my cup of tea, but I dont mind a bit of roleplay.

She turned my way. I could light you on fire, she said.

Is that an innuendo?

She turned away from and stared at the elevator doors. Im... not actually a nun, no. But I was part of a pretty religious school.

I nodded along. Never had much of that at my schools. Didnt have much schooling either.

Where did your parents send you? she asked.

To an orphanage, mostly, I said.

She tensed. Im sorry, she said.

I waved it off. Im used to it.

The elevator dinged and I yanked my Trench Maker out before the door had even begun to open. Gomorrah shifted next to , an arm raising to point out into... an empty lobby area.

Just being careful, I said, a bit sheepish. So, uh, you have... parents and stuff?

She snorted. Yeah, I have parents. Well, a parent.

Sorry to hear that? I tried.

She shook her head as we started moving through the abandoned lobby area and into a sort of concourse. It was pretty typical for buildings with multiple bridges across them to have stalls and shops and such in them so that people walking from one part of the city to the next could stop over to buy shit.

My mom left when I was young. My dad did his best, but hes an office guy, married to the job. So he sent to the best school he could afford. Hence the religious upbringing. Or partially religious... Im not too sure about it all, now that Im one of the Samurai that we treated like saints.

Were just people with alien storefronts in our heads, I said.

I would like to think that Im more than a re storefront.

I suppose so, she said. My... moms back. Not with my dad, shes just back in my life. The mont I beca this. She gestured at herself. She reappeared out of nowhere and is suddenly the nicest person Ive ever t. It... it feels wrong.

I eyed her from the corner of my eye. Did she want so sympathy? Or maybe It had been weighing her down for a while and I was just the first one to co along that could listen to her. Sothing said that Gommorah wasnt drowning in friends.

Im no expert when it cos to parents, I said. But Ive seen lots of people acting nice. The act can be a good thing. Sotis you just need to pretend to be a good person to keep people calm. But most of the ti, when soone switches from being an ass to being nice, theres sothing fucky going on. At least, thats my experience as a shitty orphan from a shitty orphanage.

We finally arrived at one of the bridges, one of those fancy ones with glass walls and a glass ceiling which was being assaulted by rain from above. The skies had actually brightened a bit, so of the cloud cover breaking apart here and there, but not right above us.

I moved closer to the edge, feeling for the soreness in my leg as I moved. It was a bit annoying, pulling strangely with every stretch, but I could walk on it well enough.

The roads below were cleared of people. A few Model Threes were sniffing around, probably the very front of the next wave. Had we stalled them with our little fireshow?

Whats that?

I looked to Gomorrah, then followed her pointing finger into the sky.

At first I couldnt see anything. The bridge wasnt near the topmost floor, so all the buildings around us towered above and cut off line of sight except for straight down the street. Even that was a ss with other bridges cutting across.

And then, from out between two bridges ca a huge grey-black form that swooped up and under the passages.

At first I thought it was a hoverbus. It was way too big to be a Model One. The snap of giant wings shot that idea down. The monster was huge, with four great wings that seed almost fuzzy and a dog-like face at the end of a long neck. It had four eyes, eyes that were locked on us.

Ah fuck, I said as it swooped towards us with Cat-sized talons extended.